Now and Forever
by Krystal Lily Potter
Summary: Scattered petals, sparkling dresses, smiling faces, slow music and, of course, him. Who was he? The one perfect guy that would stand there and wait for the slow music to start on the day when smiling faces were plentiful. S/K


**Now and Forever**

Scattered petals, sparkling dresses, smiling faces, slow music and, of course, him. Who was he? The one perfect guy that would stand there and wait for the slow music to start on the day when smiling faces were plentiful. He would wait until she appeared in a sparkling dress, walking over scattered petals.

Most girls, even if they choose not to admit it, wonder and dream about their wedding day, or at least amuse the thought if only for a few spare moments in time. They wonder who their husband would be, what the ceremony would look like, where it would take place, who would be the bride's maids, what colors would the dresses be, and other things like that.

For some people, 'he' changed as they grew, but never her. Ever since she was five, she knew who would be waiting for her. Kairi had always been a girl who was very sure of herself, even when she was younger, and she was sure that destiny had woven her fate with none other than her best friend, Sora.

He was her savior, her prince charming in big-yellow shoes. Sure, most girls could agree that he was handsome, or adorable at best, but many commented on how he wasn't quite as tall as they would want, or how he wasn't extremely muscular like his best friend was. Kairi didn't care that Sora could act immature at the best of times, or that his clothing style was definitely different from others, or that he seemed to talk to himself from time to time. There was no doubt in her mind that she was absolutely, positively in love with him.

Selphie called her obsessed with him at the best of time, but Kairi would just point out that Sora had saved her twice (three times, if you count him saving Naminé) and he had literally carried her heart around inside of his for months before finally stabbing himself through the heart to save her. She had a good reason to be obsessed with him, thank you very much.

So, the short version of the story is that Kairi always knew that Sora would be waiting for her at the alter on that special day, but as she got older her vision of how it would happen changed rapidly.

Especially when her parents (her adoptive parents, but her parents none the less) decided that he was a bad influence for vanishing for nearly two years and then showing up with a weapon that no one could take from time. They would go as far as driving her to school (even though she lived about a five minute walk away) and would be waiting there to pick her up, just so she couldn't spend more time with him.

Still, with the help of mostly Selphie and Riku (and sometimes Tidus and Wakka), Sora and Kairi were able to avoid her controlling parents and spend a lot of time together. So much time, in fact, that the two began dating in secret.

It had been thrilling for Kairi, and she had dreams of a beautiful wedding were her parents would miraculously accept Sora for what he was again.

Clearly, when her parents started introducing her to boys they thought were 'appropriate', they weren't going to accept Sora any time soon. Naturally, this did not impress Kairi in any way, shape or form, so she gave up on trying to convince them that Sora was a good guy. She just learned to ignore them.

That was when her dreams and fantasies changed again, because her parents couldn't be there if she got married. In fact, they would go out of their way to stop it. So they, along with most of the family that they would invite, got scratched out of her mental image, and because there were less people it could be in a different place and so on. Another difference was definitely including all the colorful characters that Sora had told her about from his adventures. Seeing Jack Sparrow at a wedding reception with a free bar would be hilarious.

Kairi was one of the girls that thought about this a lot. And for the record, no, she had never once mentioned any of this to Sora. She didn't want to scare him off.

So she would stick with defying her parents and her midnight kisses with her klutzy prince, even if it meant loosing a part of her dream day.

Kairi took in a deep breath as the ocean air assaulted her body. It was cold out for Destiny Islands, with mist, heavy clouds and rain ruling the sky. A smile appeared on her face when she felt a pair of skinny, warm arms wrap around her and giggled slightly when she felt spiky hair brush her face.

"I thought you were heading home for dinner?"

"I have to sit and listen to them go on and on about how this guy that's supposed to be there is so perfect," Kairi said without opening her eyes. "And then they'll leave us alone and he'll try to hit on me and I'll have to kick his ass back to where he came from."

Sora couldn't help but laugh as he hugged her tighter and kissed the back of her neck gently before saying, "Meet me here later tonight? At about ten?"

"It'll be cold then," Kairi said.

"I'm sure we can do a good job of keeping each other warm," Sora said as he started swaying from side to side.

Kairi turned in his arms and kissing him hard on the lips. He wasn't expecting it, but he welcomed it anyway.

Kairi didn't want to break away from him, but unfortunately for her, her cellphone started ringing. She didn't answer it, knowing from the tone (which sounded like monkeys in a jungle), that it was her mother or father looking for her. After the ringing stopped, she broke away from Sora and stared up at him with sad eyes.

"Don't worry," Sora whispered to her. "I'll find a way to fix this. I know you're getting tired of sneaking around, even though we've been doing it for four years."

"Nothing can fix this Sora," Kairi said with a grim smile. "But thank you for the thought anyway. I better go."

Sora nodded and gave her a quick kiss before watching her walk away.

There had to be something he could do. There had to be a way he could fix this so he wouldn't have to watch her walk away alone every day to go talk to other guys (ones that she didn't want to talk to.).

He let out a sigh and put his hands into his pockets before turning and walking towards his home. Maybe his mother would have an idea to help him. She was very supportive of his and Kairi's relationship and offered to help whenever possible.

'_How pathetic are you?'_ he heard Roxas whisper to him. _'You're 20 and you still go to your mother for advice.'_

"There's nothing wrong with that," Sora muttered out loud. "She'll always be my mom, no matter how old I get. Besides, you are me, so you're doing it do."

'_Touché.' _

**VVVVVVV**

"Kairi, honey, this is Hubert Montange. He's Eugene and Margarine's son."

Kairi couldn't help but snort at the names. What kind of poor person would name her daughter Margarine? Really, there was nothing wrong with the last name Montange, but the name Kairi Montange sounded horrible to her.

She was forced to sit beside this guy that was probably a good five or six years older than her and was forced to listen to him talk about himself. He went on and on about how he worked in his father's company. She thought about how the gel he used in his hair made it look exceptionally greasy.

And of course, after the food was done, her parents and his parents shooed them out of the room towards the living room. He sat down on the love seat and patted the spot beside him so she could sit there. She walked passed him and sat in a chair so he couldn't sit beside her. She stretched her legs over one side of it and one of her arms over the other side so he couldn't sit on either of the arms. Some guys had actually tried that before.

"Well Miss. Kairi, you're 20, correct?"

"Mmmm hmmm."

"And you're not already thinking of a husband? On Destiny Islands that's odd. Most people tend to get married right out of high school."

It was true. For some reason the people on Destiny Islands seemed to get married very young. She wouldn't have had a problem with it, but Sora never asked her. Still, that was alright too. She'd wait for a while if it meant having him forever. But if it took too long, she had already decided that she would throw tradition to wind and ask him to marry her.

"I suppose to were waiting for the right person, right?" Hubert asked.

"Not really," she answered honestly. She wasn't waiting for the person, she had found him, she was just waiting for him to ask her. There was a difference.

"Ahh, so you feel it too."

"Pardon?" Confusion passed over her face as she watched him get up and walk over to her. Suddenly, it clicked. He thought she was talking about him. Naminé pointed out that his gelled hair looked like it would hurt more to touch than Sora's spikes did, and Kairi couldn't agree more.

"This is love at first sight, I know it is. Kairi Yamada, will you marry me?"

She gave him the oddest look ever as he put his hand on her leg and started running it dangerously close to the edge of her skirt. A glare appeared on her face as she turned on the chair and pushed him away.

"One, don't touch me. Two, stop using gel in your hair because it looks disgusting. Three, my name is Kairi Kokoro, not Yamada. It's the name I was born with before I got here and it's never changed. And four…no. Never in a million years. You don't know me, and I don't know you. I said I wasn't waiting for the person because I already found him, and he is not you."

Kairi got up from the chair and pushed passed him, glaring at her parents as she stormed up to her bedroom and slammed the door shut.

"Kairi!" her mother yelled up at her as the older woman rushed up the stairs. "Come out here."

"Go away."

"Young lady, come here."

"No!"

"Don't take that tone of voice with me. I am your mother."

"No you're not!" Kairi snapped as she threw open the door. "You're not! My mother is dead. I've put up with all your stupid matchmaking schemes with nothing but annoyance, but when a guy I just met a few hours ago to asks me to marry him? No!"

"What are you doing to do with yourself then? Be a homeless orphan who marries that good-for-nothing hooligan and then has an entire brood of stupid, useless children that will end up in foster homes because you can't pay for them?"

"Sora is not a good-for-nothing hooligan!" Kairi raged. She had been just angry before, but hearing her mother insult Sora made her anger burn and her rage truly explode. "He's ten times the person you'll ever be! You know what, yes, I am going to marry him! I am going to have children with him, maybe even an entire 'brood' like you say. But you know what? I'll have a better life with Sora than I ever will with anyone you want to set me up with. My children will grow up in a home where their parents love each other like Sora did, or like I did before I came here!" With that she slammed her door again, knocking the mirror that was on her side off, shattering it on the floor as she locked the door.

She pushed her dresser, her desk, and her wardrobe in front of her door so that even if her adoptive parents unlocked the door, they wouldn't be able to get in. Then she rushed around her room and started throwing things in a bag.

Maybe she was being overly dramatic, because she had been cool and calm about everything up until about five minutes ago. Still, the fact that some one who was not Sora had asked her to marry him terrified her.

She pushed open her window and tossed her bag to the ground. Then she expertly climbed out after it, using the vines that climbed up that part of the house to climb down. She was used to this particular escape technique, because of how much she snuck out to see Sora.

When her feet hit the ground, she swooped down and grabbed her bag before running away from the house she had grown up in without even the urge to look back.

**VVVVVVV**

Sora slowly walked along the beach, enjoying the warm air on his face. His talk with his mother had not helped him in any way, shape or form. She suggested, rather reluctantly, that he try to talk with Kairi's parents. Yeah right. They'd probably pull a shotgun out on sight and shoot him. His mother agreed with the sentiments and suggested (with a little more enthusiasm) to threaten them with his Keyblade. Sora had rejected the idea, shocked that his mother of all people would suggest such a thing.

He stopped walking as he suddenly heard distant sobs. He strained his ears to try and hear exactly where the sound was coming from when he realized who the sobs belonged to: Kairi.

He started running in the direction of the crying, and sure enough, he found Kairi on the ground with tears falling down her cheeks, her bag thrown to the side.

Sora knelt down in front of her, and she looked up at him. Neither said a word as Kairi pushed herself to her knees and then into his arms, crying onto his shoulder. Sora didn't tell her that it'd be alright, or tell her to stop crying, he just held her.

"I-I ran," Kairi finally muttered to him. "I ran from them. I couldn't take anymore 'suitors', and I couldn't listen to them bash you anymore then they do. I just want to get away from them for good."

"Is that what you really want?" Sora asked her slowly. His mind was slowly formulating a plan, or rather, returning to one he had thought up just after she had turned 18. He put it off, knowing that she wouldn't want to leave her family, but now things were different.

"Yeah," she answered without any hesitation.

"Then lets run."

Kairi shot back, her shocked eyes meeting his serious ones. She stared at him for a moment before stuttering, "W-What?"

"We'll run. Just you and me. Well, we can't leave Riku behind forever, but he'll understand if it's just us for a little while."

Kairi studied his face, looking for a hidden smirk, or a mischievous tint to his eyes to tell her that he was joking, but she couldn't find either. He was being completely serious.

Sora assumed that her silence was rejection of the idea, but he was too hard-headed and stubborn to leave it alone. He didn't want her to suffer anymore. "Come on Iri. All you need to do is say yes."

Tears welded up in her eyes as she said, "What about you? I may have problems with my family, but what about your mother? She's been nothing but supportive. Can you just leave her here on her own?"

"In all fairness she does have a boyfriend now," he said with a grin that quickly vanished. "It's not like I'll never keep in touch with her, or never visit her again. So I guess in a way, yeah, I'm willing to give her up for you."

Her tears fell down her cheeks as she said, "No. No. I can't. I can't ask you to do that Sora. You've already been through hell for me and I—"

Sora cut her off with a quick kiss before he said, "Marry me."

Kairi felt like all the atoms in her body had suddenly come to a complete stop. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened and closed several times until she whispered, "C-can you say that again?"

"Marry me Kairi," he said confidently. "I don't care when, where or how. It can be in 10 years or tomorrow, it doesn't matter to me."

Kairi suddenly had a hard time breathing, and now Sora's confidence was starting to wane. Still, he didn't let go of her.

Kairi's next action, after several moments of tense silence and no movement, startled Sora to no end. She suddenly moved towards him quickly and kissed him. Then she backed up and, with a dazzling smile said, "Y-yes. Yes. I—" She couldn't say anything else, but the smile on her face said it all.

Sora smiled warmly at her and said, "Run with me?"

He was still serious about it. Finally, she asked, "Run where, Sora?"

"Anywhere we want to. We'll swim in Atlantica, fly in Neverland, become lions in Pride Lands, see your home in Radiant Garden. We'll go everywhere and anywhere we want to. You'll get to see all of the friends I told you about, but without the danger of Heartless or Nobodies."

Kairi suddenly nodded as she suddenly moved so that she was straddling him with a smirk on her face. "I'll go on one condition, Mr. Hikari."

"Anything," Sora said. He didn't outwardly appear to be disturbed by the way they were sitting, but Kairi knew that it did a little. He would call her a tease at the best of times, but she insisted that she didn't want to give anything up until her wedding night.

"Right now."

"Right now, what?"

"Lets get married right now."

Her wedding night that she wanted to be tonight.

Sora's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he said, "B-but I thought you'd want to have a big wedding? Like, the biggest one on the islands."

Kairi shook her head negatively and kissed him teasingly, "The only thing that hasn't changed about my perfect wedding over the years is you. So I figure that if I get that one thing, then that's good enough for me."

"But—"

"Unless you don't want to."

"No! I mean yes—I mean—okay. Lets go and get married."

"Right now?"

"Right now."

Sora leaned up and kissed her again passionately, not wanting to let go. Neither of them did.

**VVVVVVV**

Kairi stood in front of the mirror in a dirty public washroom, brushing out her hair and checking her makeup to make sure it was all still perfect. She wished that she could have found another place to do this, because this particular washroom looked and smelled like it had never been cleaned before, and the constant humming and flickering of the fluorescent lights was definitely getting to her. Still, she needed a mirror in a place where no one would really recognize her, so she wouldn't be picky.

It's not like she was getting married in this washroom or anything.

She took in a nervous breath and said, "I can't believe I'm actually going to do this."

Most people, given the atmosphere, would have screamed bloody murder and ran out of the room as fast as possible when a young, transparent woman appeared beside them. Kairi wasn't fazed at all though. Naminé appearing was something she had gotten used to over the years. It was like having a best friend or a sister with you at all points of time.

"You don't have to do this," Naminé said to her. "Sora would understand if you didn't want to get married right now. Heck, he doesn't even have a ring for you."

Kairi paused her movements, and odd look passing over her face as she slowly turned to Naminé and asked, "Are you alright with this?"

"What?"

"Are you alright with me and Sora getting married right now? I mean, technically won't it be like you and Roxas getting married too?"

An embarrassed grin appeared on Naminé's face as she blushed lightly and said, "Yeah. Roxas and I talked about it on the way here. We're fine with it if you are."

"Do you think we're ready?"

"Honey, you were honestly ready to marry Sora the second he got back to Destiny Islands when you were 15. Don't even get me started about the impromptu 'wedding' under the monkey bars when you were both six."

Kairi giggled and said, "Sora didn't even have a fake, plastic ring, so he wrapped a piece of a Fruit by the Foot around my finger. Riku gave him a black eye after that."

Naminé giggled before becoming serious again. "Actually, now that I think about it, you're not ready."

"I'm not?" Kairi asked, her eyes widening with panic.

Naminé shook her head negatively before closing her eyes and concentrating. Kairi was about to ask her what she was doing when there was a quick flash of light. She blinked with surprise when she saw Naminé wearing the clothes she had been wearing. Then she looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing Naminé's white dress and blue sandals.

"Now you have a white dress," Naminé said with a grin. "And it's borrowed. So something borrowed, something blue." She motioned to the sandals that she had been wearing seconds before. "Now all you need is something old and something new."

"This is old," Kairi said while fingering the necklace she wore around her neck. It had been a combined present from Sora and Riku for her tenth birthday. "But I don't have anything new on me."

"Oh well," Naminé said with a shrug. "Three out of four isn't bad. Now get out there. You need to get moving before you can't find someone to marry you tonight."

Kairi nodded quickly and Naminé vanished again. She then walked out of the bathroom and found Sora waiting for her. He raised an eyebrow at her appearance but said nothing about it.

"You ready?"

Kairi smiled warmly at him and threw her arms over his shoulders. "You bet."

"And you're sure?"

She kissed him quickly and said, "I'm fine with eloping, but I better get one damn nice honeymoon _and_ anniversary gift."

Sora laughed a bit and said, "Deal."

**VVVVVVV**

There were some problems that Sora and Kairi had to deal with right away. There were very few people on Destiny Islands that could legally marry people. As there was no official, organized religion, there were not priests, ministers, pastors, or anyone to that effect. The first option was to get the mayor to marry them, but that wouldn't work, considering the mayor was Kairi's father and would more than likely bring his shot gun with him.

The second option was to get a judge to marry them, but they would have to try and snag one of them quickly.

The last option was to go to the sketchy place in the backwaters of Destiny Islands that had a neon sign that buzzed loudly and flickered from time to time.

They decided to try to go with option number two first, because the guy who had the legal rights to marry them at the run-down little place (he was a judge as well, but he didn't work for the system anymore) was known for being a pretty big pervert.

Luckily for them, they happened to know someone within the system. Someone that had the right to marry them and would gladly do it.

Sora grinned a bit as he saw a tall man with silver hair leaning over a desk, his dark eyes focusing intently on the document in front of him. Sora quickly cleared his throat and the man looked up.

"Sora, Kairi," the man said. "What can I do for you? And please don't let it be that I have to bail my son out of jail like with the hose and coconut incident."

Sora snickered a bit before saying, "No sir, this has nothing to do with Riku. Actually, we need you to do us a huge favor."

"If it has to do with anything illegal, then no," Riku's father said. "If it's not though, I'll see what I can do."

"Marry us."

The man did a double take at the request, glancing from Sora to Kairi, back to Sora and finally resting on Kairi again. "Right now?"

Kairi nodded and said, "Yes, right now." The air of confidence that surrounded both of them let the old man know that they were definitely serious about this.

"I would, but the law states that you need at least two witnesses," the man said. "Whether getting married in a big ceremony, or eloping."

Kairi felt panic rush through her. She had completely forgotten about that fact. She knew that the creepy perv had two people working in his place that would act as witnesses, so when she assumed that they were going there to be married, she hadn't really worried. When Sora promised her a slightly better wedding than that, it had completely slipped her mind.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Sora said with a smile as Kairi's head whipped around to stare at him. "They should be here any minute."

"What?" If he was referring to Roxas and Naminé, she was pretty sure that they didn't count.

"I remembered that little fact while you took an hour to fix your hair earlier." Sora shrugged as he continued to grin. "So I made two quick calls."

"Wh—"

The sound of footsteps coming down the hall outside of Mr. Keimei's office made Sora grin. "Right on time." Through the already opened door, Kairi could clearly see their tall, silver-haired friend, and a short woman with cerulean blue eyes and dark blonde hair.

"Riku!" Kairi said as she hugged him quickly. "You—you're okay with this?"

"Assuming that, otherwise, I was going to get a note in the morning explaining why my best friends weren't here anymore, yeah," Riku said with a grin. "Besides, Sora's been carr—"

Sora suddenly had a coughing fit, one that was so painfully fake that Roxas, who was already hidden in Sora's mind, wanted to cringe and hide somewhere. Kairi raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't get to say anything as the woman came forward. Sora's mother.

Mrs. Hikari smiled warmly at her son and said, "I'm glad you called me." Then, with lightning-quick movements, she smacked her son's arm and added, "You had no intention of calling me if you could get away with it. Did you?"

"Mom."

"Don't try using those watery eyes on me," Mrs. Hikari said. "I invented that." It always amused Kairi and Riku to no end to see how much Sora and his mother really were alike. It was even funnier watching them have an argument. It was like an unstoppable force hitting an unmovable object. Nothing came from it.

"It's not that I didn't want you here," Sora said to his mother. "It's just that we don't have much time."

Mrs. Hikari smiled a bit before nodding her head and saying, "I've been expecting something like this anyway. What, what that stuck up mayor and his wife…no offense Kairi…well…I won't be voting for him in the election next month." She muttered to herself for a moment before shaking her head and turning to Riku's father. "Well, do we have a marriage to perform or not?"

Mr. Keimei grinned and said, "I guess we do."

"Wait, Sora," Riku said, eyeing Kairi's hands oddly. "I thought you…"

Mrs. Hikari pulled a velvet box out of her pocket and said, "I saw it sitting in your room before I left, so I figured I better bring it."

Sora smiled warmly at his mother and took it from her. Kairi stared at it curiously, having a pretty good idea about what it was. He didn't open it though and instead handed it to Riku and told him to pass it to him later.

Kairi's eyes stayed locked onto Sora's the entire time the vows were being read, repeating only when she had to. No one else could see it, but Roxas and Naminé stood beside them too, reach repeating the vows along with their others. She could hear Sora's mother sniffling behind her and that made her tear up. The tears actually fell from her eyes when she saw the ring he had bought for her. It was gorgeous, and although they didn't have actual wedding bands for each other, the sparkling engagement ring was good enough. Everything about the small, miniscule little ceremony was good enough.

**VVVVVVV**

Kairi let out a giggle as she kissed Sora, effectively waking him from is sleep. He blinked for a moment before grinning and cupping her face in his hand.

"Hey."

"Hey," she replied with a grin as she leaned down and kissed him again, but this time she didn't let go right away.

Sora let out a groan and she let out another giggle as she backed away from him teasingly. He eyed her for a moment before saying, "I could get used to this."

"I could get used to waking up with you every morning too," Kairi said as she moved forward and cuddled into his side again, staring at the ring on her finger in awe.

"I was referring to your lack of clothing, but you know, that works too."

Kairi smacked him playfully and said, "That's why you didn't get any before we were married."

"Hmmm, well, you're mine now, so I can do what I want," he smiled warmly at her. "And what I want is…to go back to sleep."

Kairi let out a sigh and said, "You'd rather sleep then spend time with me?"

"Iri, we have all the time in the world, but I didn't get much sleep last night." Sora threw her a suggestive grin before pulling her close, planting a small kiss on her neck before burying his face in the crook between her shoulder and her neck and just laying there.

Kairi ran her hand up and down his back as she asked, "How long did you have this ring for?"

"Since you turned 18."

"Why didn't you ask me before?"

"I was holding out, hoping that your parents might come around so that they could come."

She smiled broadly at him and said, "Thank you Sora. So, where are we going on our honeymoon? It has to be a place where we can have a lot of privacy."

She felt Sora grin against her skin and he said, "Don't worry. I know the perfect place to go."

Kairi sighed happily and allowed herself to fall asleep in his arms. Sure, she didn't get her big wedding, but all that mattered was that Sora stayed by her side for now and forever.

**VVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I figured since I'm writing a fic with no Sora/Kairi interaction that I should give the people that really like romance something new too. So I hoped you liked this!

I also found another Christmas story I wrote back in December, but I'm not sure if I should post it now or not. I mean it's Spring (aside from the fact that we're getting 35 cm of snow today…and it was 11 degrees Celsius yesterday!). Meh, oh well.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


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